Bringing Back Life to my .30-06

[hunterjmj]

I'm sure like many you started out hunting with a .30-30 for my first couple years of hunting then my dad let me hunt with a scoped .243. Having a scope made me feel like I fit in with the rest of our camp. It was great. By this time I was mowing lawns, chopping wood and shoveling snow and I wanted to buy my own rifle. By mid summer in 93' I had a paid for .30-06 that my dad put on layaway at Big R. I hunted with that rifle till 14' when I started hunting with a 300 WM and now I hunt with a 223. Ha. Since 14' I started hand loading, bullets got better, I've become a better shot, etc. I pulled the 06' out of the safe this morning and felt guilty for not using her the last 10 years. My 223 is my go to rifle now but I'd like to bring the 06' back into the lineup. I think I'll have it threaded, put a credo 3-9 on her and see what she can do. Back in the day I shot 180 gr fail safe bullets and killed a pile of animals with it. Is there a go to round now a days for the 06'? I might start with a box of 178 eldx's, a suppressor and see how she does. What's everyone using these days?

 

[he_lives]

I have a tikka 300wsm that is cut and threaded to shoot suppressed. Due to the short barrel, it is roughly on par with 30-06 velocity.

For that rifle, I have loads worked up for 185 Berger Juggernauts and 168 Hornady ELD Match bullets. Because of the ~200-fps difference in velocity needed for terminal performance between the two, my load for 168 ELD match outpaces the 185 Bergers by a small margin.

You may find different results, but I would take a look at the 168 class bullets. BC's are not far behind the 180 class bullets with less felt recoil in my setup.